The ballot question to be decided on Tuesday gives voters another chance to weigh in on the plan of the Board of Selectmen and its building committee for renovating Town Hall, Harvard’s 1870s-era seat of government. It asks voters to allow the town to borrow an additional sum of money to cover the increased costs of the project. The town has already approved an expenditure of $3.97 million both at 2012 Annual Town Meeting (by a two-thirds vote) and at the ballot box the following Tuesday (by a narrow majority).
The vote Tuesday, as we explain on page one, answers the question of whether to fund the additional amount with excluded debt. It does not appropriate any money. A request for $1.1 million appropriation failed to pass at a Special Town Meeting on Oct. 16. If the Nov. 5 ballot question passes, the Selectmen can call another Special Town meeting to ask again for some or all of that money.
Groups on both sides of the question, including at least two recently formed citizens groups, are doing their best to get out the vote. The turnout for a town ballot is always larger than for a Town Meeting, with its inconvenient hours and sometime too-lengthy debates. With polls in the Bromfield School gymnasium open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m., this election represents the best opportunity for every registered voter to express their will in a definitive way.
Passing the ballot question doesn’t ensure that the project goes forward, but it does give the Selectmen and, therefore, the town a chance to reconsider all its options.
The World Series is over; it’s time to vote. If ever there was an election that deserved a 100 percent turnout, this is it.
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